Heavy Readers and Their Unread Books. E...

While heavy readers only form a small percentage of the entire group of readers, they seem to ownmany unread books (Schmidtchen, 1993). Despite anecdotal evidence from both professional and recreationalreaders (e.g. Bayard, 2009; Eco, 2011), academic examination of unread books is still sparse. Learning moreabout heavy readers and their unread books can contribute to understanding the everyday uses of books andliteracy in the home environment. This paper investigates the reasons why heavy readers accumulate booksfaster than they can read them. Assuming that these readers receive positive emotional response from acquiringand keeping unread books, the Uses-and-Gratifications-Approach provides a useful starting point to examinetheir behavior. Due to the exploratory nature of this research, guided, problem-centered interviews withfour subjects of different age and sex were conducted and analyzed via computer supported qualitative contentanalysis (Mayring, 2014). The subjects were classified as heavy readers and own a vast pile of books to-be-read(TBR-pile). The initial findings provided a variety of motives as well as gratifications of reading and owning agreat number of books. A hermeneutical interpretation of the findings was conducted in order to understandthe behavior of the interview partners better and to search for the needs behind their motives. The findings canbe related to theories from different disciplines, namely psychology, sociology and behavioral economics, withthe help of this in-depth-interpretation. Although the results are not representative, they provide insights intoa field in which there is almost no research to date. Some of the outcomes of the study concern: (1) everyday reading habits and gratifications of reading, (2) the consumption cycle of books from discovery to acquisitionto (not) reading and beyond, (3) insights into the decision making process and (4) explanations for retainingand accumulating even more unread books.Keywords: unread books, heavy readers, consumption, identity, exploratory study